Big B gives narration in Tagore song album

Mumbai, Jan 3: Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan, with his flair for literature and poetry, has taken up the cause of popularising the song of Rabindranath Tagore beyond the boundaries of Bengal and Bangladesh.

Son of Harvanshrai Bachchan, an eminent poet, Amitabh has given narration in the first-ever full-fledged album of Tagore's songs composed Hindi, titled 'Mere Man Mein Dhadkan Mein' (Rabindra Shraddhanjali). All the 10 songs of the Album have been sung by Indrajit Dasgupta, a singer not by profession but by passion. He is an officer of Indian Revenue Service of 1981 batch and is at present posted as the Commissioner of Customs (Appeal) in Mumbai.

The Sky Music Company of Tabun Sutradhar, the renowned music director, has produced the album. The songs have been written in Hindi by eminent lyricists like Javed Akhtar, Shaheen Iqbal and Rajesh Johri. Tabun Sutradar has composed music for the album, a release issued here today said.

Mr Bachchan has recorded his narration at the Sound City Studios recently. In his narration, the superstar said, ''Nobel laureate Shri Rabindranath Tagore needs no introduction. The poet, through his countless works, has endeavoured to bring out the culture, tradition and spirit of the Indian people. He had cut across the narrow boundaries and create a familiar setting in which distant people from different backgrounds and different territorial locations could find a common platform and common identity. He has captured in his works every ripple of human emotion and sentiment, be it joy or sorrow, smile or tears, sadness or love, or spiritualism and patriotism.'' He also stated, ''The ten songs of the present album have been selected by singer Indrajit Dasgupta, where the inner spirit have been kept intact and those have been transcreated in Hindi from Bengali. Though in one or two songs verbatim translation has not been made, but the tunes, beats, music and the spirit have been followed scrupulously.'' ''The noble cause for bringing out the Tagore songs in Hindi is to introduce the Hindi-speaking population of the country to the works of Tagore so that they can listen, sing, read and familiarize them with Tagore's songs.''

Although attempts were made earlier in this direction and there were occasional attempts to pick up the threads of Tagore's songs in some Hindi films, this is the first concerted effort to popularize his songs throughout the country and crystallized in the form of an audio and first-ever music video of Hindi version of Rabindrasangeet.

Mr Dasgupta clarified that the lyrics of the songs selected by him are not verbatim reproduction of the original Tagore songs. But then, notwithstanding the subtle and sometimes not so subtle, variation of words, meaning and phraseology, the compositions have retained the essence and refreshing flavour of sweet Rabindrasangeet.

One of the songs of the album has been picturised in the form of a music video. Involved in the process is film director Ujjwal Chatterji.

Bollywood actors Ashmit Patel and Bengali actress Rituparna have performed in this music video. The shooting has taken place in Satara.

Mr Dasgupta is a singer by passion and is a 'B-High' grade artist of classical songs awarded by All India Radio. At present he is posted as the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) in Mumbai. When asked as to what prompted him to undertake a venture of this kind, he emphasized that he has taken this up as a 'cause' for transporting Tagore's songs across the threshold of Bengal. The video is expected to go on air in different channels throughout the country by the end of January 2007.

Asked about his experience of working with Amitabh Bachchan, Dasgupta stated, ''Bachchan Sahab is a majestic personality. He is a noble person with a very large heart.''

UNI